: I decided not to apply for credentials to blog the Democratic convention (though, months ago, I had planned to) first because I think citizens who have not had the privilege of getting behind such velvet ropes (as I have had) should now be allowed in, and second because I fear I’m tainted by too many years in the j-biz: I’m afraid I might by reflex still act like a reporter. And that’s not what I want to see from bloggers at the conventions. I want to see the stories the reporters are too jaded and predictable to find; I want to hear the viewpoints of real people in the halls of power; I also don’t want more of the same, old, boring thing from this nonevent. So here’s my request to the bloggers who get in:

1. Do not cover anything we can see on TV: not a single speech.

2. Do give us your perspective as a citizen: be opinionated and, when deserved, cynical.

3. Do report on the reporters: Expose the tricks of their trade.

4. Do take assignments from your readers: ask the questions the people who can’t be there would ask (that, after all, is the real job of reporters, isn’t it?).

5. Do not take it too seriously. This is a nonevent, a media event, a carnival. Treat it as the amusement it is.

: Jay Rosen says he’s thinking about applying for credentials. He should. It’d be great to have a smart perspective of this all-in-all dumb event.

I’d rephrase Numero Uno — speeches are experienced much differently live. For instance, they can be full of dramatic sweep and gesture on the teevee, yet the floor can be two-thirds empty, with delegates eating chicken wings and reporters in the TV room pounding beer and making jokes about politicians’ drug habits. Or, you can sense the palpable difference in the room when, say, an Al Gore speaks, and when a Bill Clinton does.

Rob Read

6. Remember REAL news is what people don’t want you to know!

Yogi Berra

> This is a nonevent, a media event, a carnival. Treat it as the amusement it is.

trey

Jeff,
I disagree with your advice about ignoring the speeches that can be gotten on TV. I have stopped watching the drivel on TV, and get all my news from radio and Internet. Full text is always good. Your take on the speech is even better.
If “people have their own newspaper now, and this is it” as you indicate above – then don’t dumb it down…..

http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/ Seth Finkelstein

I actually thought of applying for press credentials, since I live in the area, and have a tiny smattering of authorship qualification via technical publications.
It’s a question of why, of exactly “This is a nonevent, a media event, a carnival.”